Margaret Poplawski Is Angry (But Not Scum)

Margaret Poplawski, who did nothing to help police officers ambushed and shot on Saturday by a son she enabled to ambush them (if not because of the distress call she placed, then because she allowed the loser to assemble an arsenal to complement his derangement), expressed anger on Sunday.

What anger tore her away from somber reflection, from begging for forgiveness, from searching for a way to begin to make amends?

Not anger toward the reprehensible Richard Poplawski, who destroyed three lives and shattered families.

Not anger with respect to her many and severe failings.

Not even anger toward whatever general wickedness creates this type of inhumanity.

Instead, she is infuriated by the Post-Gazette's coverage of the senseless triple homicide and of the longstanding familial dysfunction underlying it.

In particular, the P-G reports, she demanded that the P-G stop publishing information about her and her son and stick to writing about the officers her son killed. If the P-G refrained from accepting her editorial advice, she threatened, it would "have the biggest lawsuit in the history of the city of Pittsburgh."

Her understanding of defamation and the legal system apparently resembles her grasp of parenting and morality.

I will refrain from labeling her low-rent scum not because of fear of a lawsuit but instead because (a) modest rents are good and (b) congealed algae deserves better.